REPORT: YANKEES MADE AN OFFER TO GIO GONZALEZ

Sure, Brian Cashman said he liked his internal options to fill temporary vacant spots for CC Sabathia and Luis Severino, but he's still looking at options. He may like what he has, but he may like what he doesn't have also....like some more pitching depth.

I really like our rotation. It's definitely better than what we had at the same time last year. But now we have ask ourselves if we need more because Cashman is. The Yankees had interest in Gio Gonzalez long before Severino went down with shoulder inflammation. CC Sabathia's angioplasty this winter definitely adds more concern especially he will be out until the end of April if all goes well. Hell, an aging pitcher with bad knees is a good enough reason to look for depth.

The Yankees are in a position where they can no longer gamble on an ace with shoulder concerns, a pitcher with heart and knee concerns and also Masahiro Tanaka has his own history with elbow issues which can't be ignored. So here we are now, making offers to Gio Gonzalez and not just relying on our internal options.

I don't think the Yankees are particularly enamored with Gonzalez but if they were sold on Luis Cessa, Domingo German or Jonathan Loaisiga they wouldn't have made an offer. Heyman says the Yankees don't have a lot of optimism to sign him, but that could change. The Giants and the A's are also reportedly interested in Gonzalez but if circumstances with Severino change for the worst the Yankees motivation to sign Gonzalez could change quickly.

In a perfect world there would be a good right handed pitcher still out there but there's not. Some people may be concerned about the Yankees running with four left handed starters. It's not ideal, but it can and has worked for other teams. In 2017 and to start last season, the Red Sox went with four lefties in the rotation. Their strategy certainly worked well because it gave the Yankees all kinds of problems. Yankee Stadium is built for lefties so too many lefty starters is not a problem. You could apply that same question to the lineup though, it needs some lefty bats to balance out that lopsided right handed lineup, so that really is the bigger problem.

So could Gio be a Yankee? Maybe especially if the Yankees continue to deal with injuries. One more pitching loss and we are looking at a completely different scenario. It's good that Cashman is looking. I'd be worried if he wasn't. I guess we just sit back and wait for more details and see what happens.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @nyprincessj